Bring Me The Horizon: scored UK top three album after funding campaign on PledgeMusic. Photograph: Gary Wolstenholme/Redferns

Record labels are leaving billions of pounds in revenue on the table every year by only offering music fans "ways to spend less", says Benji Rogers, co-founder and CEO of direct-to-fan platform PledgeMusic. A recent Nielsen study supports his claim, concluding that US fans are willing to spend an extra $2.6bn a year on premium access to their favourite artists.

"The music industry said 'let's just put a bunch of stuff up on a page or let's ask for money'. So much more is possible. You and I are music fans. I want to be the one who says 'I was there'," explains Rogers. "What bothers me is that some of my favourite bands offer me a sloppy 'buy' button, and two weeks later something shows up. Fuck it – I'll stream it."

To illustrate, he has registered a Google alert that says "announces album", and every day he gets a list of links saying "so-and-so" announces new album. "I'll defy you to find one button that allows you to pre-order that album – because it doesn't exist yet," he says. "All it says is that it'll be out in January. What am I supposed to do with that? You know that bit in Spinal Tap when they say 'you can't promote something that doesn't exist' – the answer is that today you can. If you offer the journey of that album, then everybody wins."

Offering this journey is what PledgeMusic specialises in. The average pledger, based on the past six months, spends $57 per transaction on the site, and for that money they don't just get the album and/or merchandise – they get exclusive, immediate video updates from the artist, as the record is being created.

"Think about it: 22,000 records released every week in the same fucking way," exclaims Rogers. "We now launch, put into production and release two to three albums per day – and have done for the last year and a half – but each one of those has a journey.

"The last piece that can't be stolen and disseminated en masse is the experience, because even if you get it later on, it's not in real time. What's exciting is what happens now – that's the very nature of Facebook's business, of social networking. Musicians are fascinating while they're working. When that ends, they're just selling."

He's at pains to clarify that Pledge is not a crowdfunding platform, or a direct-to-consumer service. "Crowdfunding is 'please give money, then I will do'," he elaborates. "Direct-to-consumer is 'I've done it, here's five ways to buy it.' We're in the middle with 'be a part of the making of it' – it truly is direct-to-fan."

Crowdfunding platforms such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo offer campaigns that last for about 30 days and then they're done. After that the pledgers have to wait for months until the album comes. The Pledge platform doesn't show how much money is being raised because, Rogers says, that injects a different quality into the campaign. "If I say to you 'help me raise $10,000', you'll ask 'what for?' If I say 'be part of my album' there is no 'what for'," he explains.

Judging by the exponential increase in artists and labels getting on board, as well as repeat customers, this approach works. The number of pledgers tend to increase with every project, with many fans telling Pledge that this is the way they want all their albums delivered from now on.

According to Rogers, Pledge campaigns now exceed their pledge/pre-order goals 86% of the time, and the average is 30% over target. The company estimates that artists using the platform can get 37% more than if they just did a crowdfunding campaign, especially if they utilise the expertise of the Pledge staff to optimise the use of social media.

I first interviewed Rogers in December 2009, when the company had just launched. It then consisted of five people operating in a room in a Covent Garden basement, next to a rehearsal room. Its clients were all self-releasing artists and there were less than a handful of campaigns launched each week.

Both independent and major record labels have also realised how beneficial the Pledge platform can be for their artists. Rogers says the company has proven that it can double the income a label makes from direct-to-consumer, "with no loss or threat to any other aspect of their business".